Human physiology requires days off. After French experiments with government imposed 10 day cycles, and Soviet imposed 5 day cycles, it has been clear that 7 day cycles are optimal. Ancient Israel (a true anarchy - rules, but no ruler before the kings) required everyone to observe the same day as a rest day. But that was an agricultural economy, where that made sense. In my visit to modern day Jordan, I observed that Muslims took Friday off, Jews took Saturday off, and Christians took Sunday off. Between them, 2/3 of the shops were open to tourists all weekend.

So how does the "sabbath" work in the Vibeverse? Obviously, government does not play a useful role, but are there any general rules in Bubble City for days off? Or is it entirely personal preference? I talked to a young guy that had worked 16 hour days 7 days a week for 3 years, and was close to collapse. He was attempting to support his ailing parents - but this course was not sustainable. Does our young heroine realize this? Or will she learn the hard way?

There seems to be a "ten-day" instead of a 7 day work cycle in the vibeverse (although it is not explicit), but that was not sustainable as a work rest cycle in recent history. Maybe people in Bubble City take every seventh day off with different origins, making it fairly random who is not at work on a given day? That would be good for continuous delivery of goods and services. What if there is a religious group that wants all it's members to to have the same day off?

Ancient Israel also observed a sabbath year before the kings (high taxes made a sabbath year much more difficult under the kings). On the sabbath year, no crops were planted, but what grew wild was gathered. Some employers today, notably academia, also provide a "sabbatical", where you work on something related to your work, but different from the daily grind - a very productive concept.

In ancient Israel, you could work off an unpaid debt as a slave/servant (the line between the two is somewhat messy). But that servitude was limited to 6 years. We had a similar limit in America, although it was eventually ignored so that slavery became lifelong. Israel also stopped releasing slaves after 6 years when high taxes under the kings made permanent slaves seem much more desirable.

Are there any rules about sabbaticals in the Vibeverse, or is it just whatever an individual can negotiate. (Or just take a chance on quitting every 6 years to try something else.)

That doesn't address my question, but since all the stores are open on our heroine's "day off", I surmise that individuals establish their own "sabbath", or lack thereof, and there is no attempt at synchronization.

That doesn't address my question, but since all the stores are open on our heroine's "day off", I surmise that individuals establish their own "sabbath", or lack thereof, and there is no attempt at synchronization.

That would actually be the most efficient. If everyone had their own weekend schedule, then their would always be someone offering specific goods or services on the day you weren't working.

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Stupid criminals put on a mask and rob people with a gun.Smart criminals put on a suit, call themselves politicians, and rob people with writ of law.

Remember, official "sabbaths" in our world were established as religious convention. The "sabbath" was the day you were to get together with fellow believers in communal worship and fellowship; we keep the tradition because everyone likes having a day off, and on a communal day off it's easier for people to get together and do other fun things.

Since religion appears to play no major part in the Vibeverse, and it is set many centuries after our time, it follows that the tradition of a common sabbath has fallen by the wayside. Everyone takes a day off whenever they can negotiate or manage it.

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The MacNut, Creator of the superhero space opera webcomic The Vanguard

That doesn't address my question, but since all the stores are open on our heroine's "day off", I surmise that individuals establish their own "sabbath", or lack thereof, and there is no attempt at synchronization.

The City (Oz, Bubbleopolis, France, etc.) operates on a 5-day cycle within a completely decimalized time system.

Since the decimalized "year" is only about 0.95 of a Terran Year, a convention has developed in which Terran years were marked up until the year 600 of the Space Age (2557 C.E.), afterwards each year became shorter according to the decimalized standard.

Every world pretty much adopts a dual time system; one that conforms to local planetary cycles, and the other being some variant of "Standard Time" as described above. The City, being a major trade hub and cosmopolitan center, exerts considerable social/cultural influence.

Within the City itself, and certain other places like it, different enclaves might observe different calendars, often religious in origin. Again, alongside the common decimalized calendar. And retail businesses find a way to stay open all week, just as they do here.